-
Financial Rates:
4.0
-
Customer Service:
5.0
-
Website Experience:
3.5
-
Bank Fees:
3.0
Pros:
- CDs have competitive interest rates
- Low opening required amount
- CDs offered to save for education
- Low monthly fee for checking account
Cons:
- High opening balances for CDs
- Low-interest rates
- Best rates require large balances
- Do not offer a variety of accounts
-
Financial Rates:
4.0
-
Customer Service:
3.0
-
Website Experience:
5.0
-
Bank Fees:
5.0
Pros:
- No monthly fees for accounts
- Checking account earns interest
- Accounts earn competitive interest rates
- Reimbursement of ATM fees
Cons:
- Highest rate requires a large sum
- Limited variety of accounts offered
- MMA and CDs have high opening amount
- Person to person payment has a fee
PenFed CDs have competitive interest rates. The rates on CDs are competitive with online-only accounts. The longer you can invest the money in the CD the higher the interest rates you will earn. CD terms range from six months to seven years.
All accounts, other than CDs, have a low opening balance of only $25. The more you invest in the money market account, the higher interest rates you will earn. However, you are only required to have $25 to open an account with PenFed.
PenFed offers CDs designed to save specifically for education costs. These CDs only require $500 to open instead of $1,000. The education CDs range in term from one year to seven years. The interest rates earned on these CDs are competitive with other CD accounts.
Only the checking account has a monthly maintenance fee. The fee is low and is easy to waive. The fee is waived by having a daily balance of $500 in the account. Having a direct deposit into the account of more than $500 each month will also waive the fee. The savings account and money market accounts do not have a monthly fee.
To open a CD, PenFed requires $1,000. The CD terms vary in length from six months to seven years. The longer you can invest your money in a PenFed CD the higher interest you will earn over the CD term. The interest rates on these CDs are competitive with other online-only CDs.
The interest rates for PenFed savings, checking, and money market accounts are not competitive. The rates are low. Those interest rates are competitive to your typical bank rates. Online only accounts offer much higher interest rates for these accounts.
To earn the highest interest on the PenFed checking account, a daily balance of $20,000 to $50,000 is required. If you do not have at least $20,000, you will earn much lower interest rates. Any amount earns interest. To get the highest rates, your daily balance must meet the requirements.
PenFed only offers one checking account, savings account, and money market account. This does not allow you to find the account that best fits your needs.
giantbank.com accounts are free. The checking and money market accounts do not have a monthly maintenance fee. There is no required amount to keep in either of the accounts. CDs only have a fee if you withdraw the money before the maturity date.
The giantbank.com checking account earns interest. You can have money directly deposited into the checking account. There is not a monthly fee. The required amount to open the checking account is only $100.
The accounts at giantbank.com earn competitive interest rates. The rates are slightly lower than other online-only accounts. However, they are much higher than other brick and mortar bank rates. The interest rates for the accounts are tiered. The more money you have in the account, the higher the interest rates you earn.
giantbank.com has a variety of ATMs in network that customers are not charged a fee for using. If a different financial institution charges a fee, giantbank.com will refund the fee.
To earn the highest interest rates, giantbank.com requires a large account balance. The money market account requires a $100,000 balance to earn the highest rates. MMA balances over $1,000 earn interest, just a slightly lower rate. The checking account requires $10,000 in the account to earn the highest interest rates. The CDs require $2,500 to open and earn interest.
giantbank.com only offers personal deposit accounts. There are no business accounts available. The personal deposit accounts include checking and money market accounts, and CDs. There is only one checking and money market account to choose from. The CDs range in terms from 91-days to 5-years.
The amount required to open a giantbank.com money market account or CDs is high. The money market account requires $1,000 to open. Each of the different CD terms require $2,500 to open. There is no monthly fee for the money market account.
giantbank.com accounts offer person to person payment through PayPal. There is a fee for each transaction. The fee is $0.50 per transaction made. You can upload bank information into Quicken or QuickBooks for a fee.
Sponsored Offers
From Our Partners
| Savings (Rate as of 11/21/2024) | |
| APY | 4.00% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 3.92% |
| Min to Open | $0 |
| Min to Earn APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Min to Avoid Fee | $0 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC | |
| Savings (Rate as of 11/21/2024) | |
| APY | 4.75% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 4.64% |
| Min to Open | $0 |
| Min to Earn APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Min to Avoid Fee | $0 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC No monthly maintenance fee, $0 to open, easily grow your money | |
The rate information is obtained by Bankrate from the listed institutions. Bankrate cannot guarantee the accuracy or availability of any rates shown. Institutions may have different rates on their own websites than those posted on Bankrate.com. The listings that appear on this page are from companies from which this website receives compensation, which may impact how, where, and in what order products appear. This table does not include all companies or all available products.
All rates are subject to change without notice and may vary depending on location. These quotes are from banks, thrifts, and credit unions, some of whom have paid for a link to their own website where you can find additional information. Those with a paid link are our Advertisers. Those without a paid link are listings we obtain to improve the consumer shopping experience and are not Advertisers. To receive the Bankrate.com rate from an Advertiser, please identify yourself as a Bankrate customer. Bank and thrift deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Credit union deposits are insured by the National Credit Union Administration.
Consumer Satisfaction: Bankrate attempts to verify the accuracy and availability of its Advertisers' terms through its quality assurance process and requires Advertisers to agree to our Terms and Conditions and to adhere to our Quality Control Program. If you believe that you have received an inaccurate quote or are otherwise not satisfied with the services provided to you by the institution you choose, please click here.
For details on our best products and how we chose them click here.
Rates proudly provided by 
For Bankrate's privacy policy, click here.
1 APY stands for Annual Percent Yield. It's different from Rate because it takes into account compounding interest for the year.
2 MMA stands for Money Market Account. It's a savings and checking hybrid, allowing you to earn interest and use checks 6 times a month.